Students 'delighted' with paper similar to but easier than those of previous years

LEAVING CERT IRISH ORDINARY LEVEL PAPER 1:STUDENTS WHO sat Irish Paper 1 at ordinary level would have been "delighted" with parts of a paper that was similar to, and occasionally easier than, those of previous years, according to teachers yesterday.

“The compositions were fine,” said Bláithín Ní Liatháin of the TUI, who teaches in Kylemore College, Ballyfermot.

Students were given a choice between writing about their favourite time of year, a person they have respect for or their love of sport. “They would have prepared for titles like those,” Ms Ní Liatháin said.

Clare Grealy of the Institute of Education said a story that began with a student packing a sleeping bag and wellies related to an event such as Oxegen.

“It allowed some students to draw on a positive personal experience,” she said.

Elsewhere, a conversation that students were asked to write was to feature two friends discussing Facebook. “That was good and topical,” Ms Ní Liatháin said.

The formal part of the letter section was described as one of the “easiest of recent years”. Students were required to complain about a disappointing meal at a debs. The informal letter asked students to write a thank you letter for a birthday present.

“Those couldn’t have been nicer,” Ms Ní Liatháin said.

Almost 26,000 students sat the Irish exam at ordinary level, a full 10,000 more than did so at higher level. They would have been happy with the next part of the paper also, according to teachers.

Two comprehensions, one about John Hume, and the other about Gaelic footballer Sinéad Ahearne, were “straightforward”, Ms Grealy said.

ASTI representative Robbie Cronin, a teacher in Marian College, Ballsbridge, said an article on John Hume was not exactly topical. “One of my lads asked me, ‘Who the hell was he?’”